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Neil Young has credited the Cure’s frontman Robert Smith with inspiring his decision not to allow Ticketmaster to use dynamic pricing for his forthcoming tour.
Dynamic pricing is marketed by Ticketmaster as “platinum” or “in demand” tickets which, according to the company, “give fans the opportunity to purchase the most in demand tickets to an event, at a market-driven price” – meaning a rise in prices for especially sought-after tickets.
Smith has long been a critic of the practice, calling it “a greedy scam” in 2023 and then elaborating in 2024: “We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artists hide behind management. ‘Oh, we didn’t know,’ they say. They all know. If they say they do not, they’re either fucking stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.”
Writing on his website, Young linked to a story about Smith’s stance, saying: “Try to read [this] story about Robert Smith, the Cure and what they did. I think it was right.” Young called dynamic pricing a “bad thing that has happened to concerts worldwide”, and said Smith “really helped me to realise I have a choice to make and can make a difference to my music-loving friends”.
He elaborated on his own position:
My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could. They have tried to protect me and the fans from scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits. Ticketmaster’s high-priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right. Very soon, Platinum tickets will no longer be available for my shows. I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.
The Guardian has asked Ticketmaster’s UK representatives for comment.
Young, 79, is preparing for his Love Earth tour with his band the Chrome Hearts, with performances across Europe and north America between April and August. Young will play two concerts in the UK, headlining Glastonbury festival on 28 June and BST Hyde Park on 11 July.
The most notorious recent example of dynamic pricing was for Oasis’s UK tour: the huge demand meant that tickets that were originally £148.50 rose to £355.20. Fans were outraged and culture secretary Lisa Nandy called out the practice, saying it was “incredibly depressing”.
Liam Gallagher was initially unrepentant, telling a fan to “shut up” after they complained about the prices, but the band later distanced themselves from the issue, saying: “Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management”. While calling dynamic pricing “a useful tool” they also acknowledged its use in the UK ticket sales resulted in “an unacceptable experience for fans”, and did not use dynamic pricing for other territories on their world tour.
Not only have the Cure banned dynamic pricing for their tours, they also set ticket prices low and have confronted Ticketmaster over other fees. In 2023, after seeing that US fans were being charged service fees that were sometimes greater than the face-value cost of the tickets, Smith took the company to task, saying he was “sickened” by the fees. Ticketmaster backed down and offered a $10 refund on the affected tickets.
